Schools

Fort Morgan's Re-3 School District up by 47 students

Official count for state funding purposes in October, but higher enrollment 'positive sign' for district

By Jenni Grubbs

Times Staff Writer

Posted:
09/20/2016 05:47:43 PM MDT

There were at least 47 more students attending classes in Morgan County Re-3 schools in the early months of this school year than this time last school year, according to raw enrollment numbers reported Monday night by Superintendent Ron Echols.

This was "good news," he said, since the district had been faced with declining enrollment in several previous years.

At the end of last school year, there were a lot of unknowns about what enrollment would look like for this school year, what with the opening of the 50-unit Sol Naciente housing development in Fort Morgan.

While it was not clear if that factored into the increase in Re-3 students this school year, the higher number was something the district wanted to see.

That's because pupil counts and district enrollment changes play a role in how the state determines what funding levels a school district will receive in coming years. The number of students indicate to the state how many teachers and support staff the district likely would need, as per the Public School Finance Act of 1994.

And while the latest enrollment number was a good sign, it was not the official number for the district.

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That number will be determined in October, when the state collects the single-day count of all students actively enrolled and attending classes in the district on the chosen date, according to the Colorado Department of Education. This year, it looks like it will be Oct. 5, according to the CDE website.

Last year, the Re-3 school board heard from Re-3 Chief Financial Officer Mike Lee that the district had seen quite a few drops in student population over not quite a decade and the possibility of a continuing downward trend.

But depending on the results of the single-day count in October, the trend may be stalling or even ready to start shifting upward.

Now, district officials can only watch the numbers and wait for when that count is taken next month.

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